Divorce Mediation and New Jersey Child Support: Part II by Joseph Dillon

Sponsors

Most Recent

Get Out Of Debt Quickly

Online Business Opportunity of Information Products

3 Tips For Effective Internet Marketing Strategies

The Atkins Diet, A Quick Review

Married and Cheating: Why Nobody Will Tell You

Use Adsense Templates and HyperVRE Software To Build Your Adsense Websites

Easy Ways to Burn Belly Fat

How To Make Money Playing Online Poker

Basic Idea of Affiliate Marketing!

How To Build A HHO

Surrender, Self-trust, and Belief . . . with a Twist

Home > All Categories > Personal > Divorce > Divorce Mediation and New Jersey Child Support: Part II

Divorce Mediation and New Jersey Child Support: Part II

Joseph Dillon

Equitable Mediation Services

In Part I of my article on child support in the state of New Jersey we discussed the three main principles behind the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines:

Child support is a continuous duty of both parents as the children belong to both of them; and
Children are entitled to share in the current income of both parents and not simply the parent who has custody; and
Children should not be the economic victims of divorce.

As there are three main principles behind the concept of child support, so too are there three main components that comprise the child support award amount. According to the NJ Judiciary, the support awards include the child's share of expenses for the following items:

Housing
Food
Clothing
Transportation
Entertainment
Un-reimbursed health care up to and including $250 per child per year
Miscellaneous items

and while this list is intended to cover the majority of the expenses one may encounter when raising children, noticeably absent are things such as child care and health insurance which are discussed in addition to the support award amount. Therefore, couples can "negotiate" even on the support amounts to ensure the needs of the child are met and each parent is paying their share of the costs associated with raising that child.

So how does the actual payment break down? There are three components:

Fixed costs - thse are costs incurred even when the child is not residing with the parent. Housing-related expenses (e.g., dwelling, utilities, household furnishings and household care items) are considered fixed costs. Consists of 38% of the amount awarded.
Variable costs - these are incurred only when the child is with the parent (i.e., they follow the child). This category includes transportation and food. Consists of 37% of the amount awarded.
Controlled costs - these are cost over which the primary caretaker of the child has direct control. This category includes clothing, personal care, entertainment, and miscellaneous expenses. Consists of 25% of the amount awarded.

and while each couple's situation may be unique, these breakouts are intended to give you a rough idea of what the support amount covers and how it allocates expenses. Of course, one of the benefits of mediation is that couples can choose to use the support amount recommended by the state of New Jersey's Child Support Guidelines or negotiate another amount that is more suitable for their particular situation. Whichever path you choose, your mediator will help you calculate the support amounts and work with you to come to an amount that works for everyone: you, your spouse and your child.

As always, if you have any questions about divorce mediation or child support in general, please feel free to contact us here at Equitable Mediation Services and we'll do our best to assist you in any way we can.

Article submitted Monday, October 27, 2008
This article has been viewed 0 times.